It Has to Be Done
by Babs Laumer
Summary: Batman ends up in a hospital. How long will he stay? What's the black rod for? If you want to know, come check it out! When you're done, please review. Thanks! :)


It Has to Be Done  
  
By: Babs Laumer  
  
Disclaimer:  
  
I don't own the Justice League. They're the property of DC comics; I'm just playing with them. I'll put them back, honest. Oh, yeah...I don't get paid for this either. :) So, sit back and enjoy!  
  
Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and the Green Lantern showed up at the reception desk, looking slightly worried. Superman detached himself from the group and addressed the nurse there.  
  
"Is Batman okay?"  
  
"He won't be up for several hours yet. I'm surprised he made it at all."  
  
"May we see him?"  
  
"Sure; just be quiet."  
  
They walked into the room to find...it empty. Puzzled, they wandered back out to the nurse. Wonder Woman gave the lady a quizzical look.  
  
"Are you SURE he's in there?"  
  
The lady looked very annoyed. "Yes." Flash decided to put his oar in.  
  
"Maybe you gave us the wrong room number."  
  
"No! I DO remember the room number!"  
  
"Would you care to show us then?" Wonder Woman gestured.  
  
"Certainly!" The angry nurse stormed across the hall into the room they were recently in, and threw back the curtain.  
  
"He's right..." she trailed off, staring at an empty bed. "...here?" The wind whistling in through the open window was the only response. "But..." she started, " he COULDN'T have left here! He had a severe concussion and out colder than yesterday's breakfast! I swear he WAS in here!" The distracted nurse turned on the superheroes. "I SAW him in here." She wrung her hands in distress. Superman reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay; we'll find him." Wonder Woman was at the window, looking out at the city ten stories below. Meanwhile, Superman had tapped his comlink, and was conversing with Jonn. "Can you find him?"  
  
"A moment, please." Silence. Flash zipped over to Wonder Woman and stared down for a second before backing up several steps.  
  
"Whoa! No way he went out that way! I get queasy just looking down." Wonder Woman gave him an irritated glance, and he backed further from the window. "Look, I get enough of that from tall dark and..." Wonder Woman's eyes narrowed "...you know what? I think I'll get a latte." With that, he disappeared in a red blur. Green lantern played his ring over the room, looking for signs of foul play. Wonder Woman's face took on a sad, reflection filled look. When Batman had surprised the Gnurk and disabled it, it had, for no apparent reason, blown itself up knocking Batman into the building across the four lane highway. She hadn't known till someone who saw it told her after she and the others had stopped the Gnurk ship from destroying City Hall. They had then learned that Batman had been taken to Gotham Central Hospital, and had been holding something he wouldn't let go of. She had then gathered the others and gone to find him. This was not panning out how it should. Realizing she was internalizing, Wonder Woman shook herself and watched Green Lantern. He stopped his ring over the bed. It was glowing an almost neon green that hurt your eyes.  
  
"I've got something," he announced eyeing the bed skeptically, "but WHAT it is, I have not a clue beyond that it's high in energy." The Flash zipped back in with four lattes and 40 sugar packs.   
  
"Hey, I'm back! Anyone want some?" He indicated the coffee by shoving it into their hands, except that Superman waved it away impatiently.   
  
"I think I've found him."  
  
"Where?" Superman tilted his head slightly, as if that would improve the reception.  
  
"He's...in the Javelin." Superman's face registered astonishment.  
  
"What?"  
  
"He's on a bearing of...six-zero, past the Watchtower. I can't read much more than that. It's difficult. His thoughts are alternately tenuous or focused on a small black object."  
  
"That's good enough for now. We'll join you soon." Superman cut contact and turned to the others. They already knew, as they had cut into the conversation.   
  
"I'll get him," Superman informed them, and strode to the window.   
  
"I'll come with you." Wonder Woman followed him to the window. He stared at her eyes. She was going.  
  
"Flash, GL? Help with cleanup. With luck, we'll be back soon." He waited till they nodded, then flew through the window towards the cold of deep space.  
  
  
  
His head felt like a lead bell, with spikes sticking out. It alternated between loud ringing and really loud ringing. In his hands he held an inch thick, three centimeters long black tube. He just needed to focus long enough to get rid of it. The controls spun past his eyes at a dizzying speed. Slowly, he closed his eyes, willing the pain in his ribs and the throbbing in his head to cut it out. Gradually, he got the sensations under control enough to open his eyes again and finish the task before him. He knew it would not work indefinitely; just long enough to do this. He hoped. His hand pulled the lever towards himself, and the Javelin picked up speed, passing the Watchtower. Distance. How far did he need to go? He checked the readings. Not far enough. Something flitted across his consciousness, like a butterfly flying from flower to flower. He looked up. Nothing happened. Although he concentrated again on the black tube in his lap and the readings, he was now on the alert. Then it came again, stronger this time. Somehow it was familiar...  
  
Jonn? He was vaguely pleased when the probing paused, and Jonn's voice spoke into his head.  
  
How did you know?  
  
You're wondering...what I'm up to.  
  
Yes. Superman is on his way.  
  
Tell... It was difficult to focus his thoughts; he knew he was going to pass out soon, but he quickly smothered that thought to keep Jonn from noticing.  
  
Tell him NOT under any circumstances to...to...pick up this. In his fogging mind he conjured up an image of what was on his lap.   
  
What is it? He was getting closer; he needed to concentrate.  
  
Tell him Jonn felt a shiver run down his spine. He hadn't been previously aware that you could send an authoritative thought QUITE like that.   
  
I will. Jonn hurriedly cut contact. Batman pushed on the lever and the ship slowed to a halt. Carefully, he made his way to the airlock, and put the tube inside. On his way back, he felt his legs start to give way. "Come on", he muttered to himself, clinging to the sound of his voice, "...almost....there." He lunged, caught the back of the chair, pulled himself forward and dropped into the seat. "Airlock..." he pushed the button, and the tube was shot out into space. Breathing hurt, and spots danced before his eyes. His body finally catching up with him, Batman passed into the world of dreams.  
  
"How much further, Jonn?"  
  
"You should be able to see it now."  
  
"There he is!" Wonder Woman pointed out the white dot growing larger. Superman angled more towards the Javelin. Soon, they could see it much closer. With his superior sight, Superman saw a black speck leave the airlock and float off.  
  
"What was that?" He started for it.   
  
"What was what?" Jonn sounded tense.  
  
"Just some black thing..."  
  
"Leave it alone!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Batman said not to pick it up!"  
  
Superman repositioned himself again towards the Javelin, and tried to call Batman. No answer.  
  
He's unconscious. You'll have to tow the Javelin in.  
  
"....okay?"  
  
"...needs....rest..."  
  
"Does...ever quit?"  
  
"Batman?....happened?"  
  
"....time."  
  
"Will....all right?"  
  
"Hope...."  
  
He needed to wake up. The voices earlier had been nebulous, intangible, but he had recognized them before he was pulled back under the black sea. Shoving the cobwebs off, he rose to the state of consciousness, and opened his eyes. Too bright! He shaded his eyes from the unaccustomed light with an arm that was nearly a dead weight. Slowly he lifted himself up, muscle by muscle, till he was propped on his elbows. His ribs felt better, though he still was a bit dizzy. The room was familiar-the medical bay in the Watchtower. A sound. He whipped his head to his right. Wonder Woman sat in a chair leaning on her left hand sleeping. After a few moments, a snore rose from her partially open mouth filling the otherwise silent room. The corners of his mouth started to pull up, but he yanked them down fast to his best poker face. Just in time, too, for at that moment, her eyes blinked sleepily, then traveled the room in search of something to look at. They finally settled on Batman, though it didn't seem to register at first that he was no longer in the horizontal position till he opened his mouth to say, "Good morning." She furrowed her brows at him, wiped the sleep out of her eyes, and then seemed to suddenly become awake.   
  
"Good morning. Are you all right?" He pushed himself the rest of the way into a sitting position, then slid his feet off the med table.  
  
"I'll live." He was feeling better already. All he needed was to get moving, and then get some breakfast, and he'd be fine. She eyed him critically for a moment, then shook her head.  
  
"You've been out for two days. We were beginning to wonder if you were going to wake up and AT LEAST satisfy our curiosity." Batman, who had been continuing his process of standing up, whipped his head around and his mouth opened a millimeter. She smiled inwardly. The first bit of information seemed to, at least partially, surprise him. She'd been wondering how he'd look surprised.   
  
"What?" She pretended she didn't know what he was asking about.  
  
"We were curious how you found the extra Gnurk, what it was up to, how you..."  
  
Flash zipped into the room holding a deck of cards, blowing Diana's hair everywhere and Batman's cape to flap behind him. "Hey, Diana! I brought something to pass the..." He stared with his mouth open at Batman. "Bats!" It was difficult to see what happened in the next few moments, as Flash was a red blur. It looked like he zoomed up to Batman for a nanosecond, then turned right back around and was out the door again before you could say, "Lickety split". In Batman's case, he was in some way glad that Diana hadn't seen Flash hug him; it was too embarrassing. If he were lucky, Flash would never do it again. Diana looked at Batman and shrugged. Batman started pulling his cape unobtrusively back into line. Appearances were important. When he heard the chair creak, he lifted his head up. Wonder Woman came within a foot of him and stood there. Puzzled inwardly, Batman straightened to his full height and stared at her face. Before he realized what was happening, she quickly reached over and gave him a hug and peck on the cheek. "Thanks for coming back," she whispered in his ear. Then she was standing by the chair again. He didn't know what to say. In the end, the Flash returning with the other members of the Justice League saved him. After the initial questions were answered, Superman asked, "How did you know that Gnurk was there, and what was it up to?" Everyone quieted down. Including, oddly enough, the Flash.   
  
"I'd been monitoring their signals, and found out that the attack on City Hall was a diversion for something else. They were planning on having the one Gnurk release a virus in the water that would paralyze humans and eventually cause their death. Then, the planet would be theirs to colonize how they wished, since the virus doesn't affect them. " He turned to Jonn.   
  
"That's what was in the black tube!" Jonn realized. Batman nodded. "With a booby trap that would explode the Earth into fragments if the plan failed."  
  
Green Lantern's eyes lit up. "That would explain the massive energy signature I picked up at the hospital. A sort of "If I can't have it, no one can."."   
  
"Yeah, well," Flash interjected, "I say good riddance to them. I couldn't stand being paralyzed!"  
  
"You can't stand being still at all." Hawkgirl commented. "You'd probably spontaneously combust if you had to be still for ten minutes."  
  
"Oh, yeah? Well I think..."  
  
"I know this one-you don't think right?" Flash opened his mouth to comment on that, but Superman quickly turned to Batman and started to ask how he managed to get out of the hospital with a major concussion, when he realized Batman wasn't there.  
  
"Where'd he go?" They all looked around, but Batman was gone.  
  
Batman walked into the Batcave, ready to start on another problem, when Alfred appeared with steaming hot food on a tray. Bruce pulled back the cowl and smelled the mouth-watering odors of a warm turkey sandwich, soup on the side, and a large slice of apple pie. Alfred smiled as Bruce took the tray, set it on his lap and dug in with relish. Welcome back, Sir. 


End file.
